Its been a busy week with many distractions. My project list at the moment seems to be growing. How do you make progress on your off grid projects when work, deadlines, and other demands are all competing for your time? A lot of folks will claim to have the answer for this in the form of some magic bullet or process. Here’s my thoughts and approach.
Break it up
Too often we let large projects paralyze us. The project is so big, that we think we need to set aside a few dedicated days to complete it. Guess what? A few dedicated days never shows up, and the project languishes on the pile of “round tuits” in the back yard. Instead, take that project and look at how you can define it into many actionable steps. That is, something that can be done in one sitting of 5 minutes or less. You’ll find by “chunking” the big things into smaller tasks that the old 3 day project, really only contains one bigger task of an afternoon, or several hours. Also consider the relation and sequence between the tasks. Can some small tasks be done ahead of others?
Stay with it, even in a small way
The small chunks above is the easy part. Now comes consistency. When you make any progress towards a goal, no matter how small, you’ll feel better about that goal. So on good days or weeks you may be able to knock out some of the larger afternoon type tasks or projects. Other weeks outside demands of work, family, or life, will consume your time and energy. At these times, having a handy list of short tasks to complete on your projects is helpful. You do one small task towards completing each project or goal.
You’ll feel better about progress, no matter how small, and I find this helps keep your steam up in achieving the desired results. Lots of times when I feel like nothing is getting done, I can review the list of mini tasks that were accomplished and find motivation to move forward.
confession
So guess what? This post is one of my mini tasks today, in what has been a demanding week on my time. Still, I need to make progress here so that you, our readers, know there is much more interesting stuff to come!
What do you think? What helps you keep on track with your projects? Tell us in the comments below what helps you!!
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Great post! For me, if it’s a big task that either consumes me or that I dread, I write down the small steps on paper, or on my computer. If the steps don’t need to be performed in order, I’ll tackle the one I dread first, to get it out of the way. When I finish each step, there’s something gratifying about being able to cross it off of the list!
.-= Brooke´s last blog ..My Ten-Year Time Capsule – or, I Actually Met Long-Term Goals! =-.
My skiing vastly improved when I discovered that you have to lean into your fear (lean forward) to have control. In the same way, checking off the first small hardest task is great. After that, its all downhill!